Day 6 & 7 - Santa Monica

We woke up bright and early (about 6am) still not used to the time difference and crept around the room trying not to wake the room mates up! Si headed down to breakfast while I finished getting showered etc and I discovered a travel hairdryer + low voltage = Rhona with damp curly hair even after trying to dry it for a good half hour (in the end I gave up and just tied it up curls and all).

I met Si downstairs and we made the most of the free breakfast the hostel provides (the usual tea, coffee, cereal, toast) and then headed out for the day.

We went to look around the shops on 3rd Street and I've never been so happy the majority of the shops actually do my size (if only i'd brought a suitcase I could have gone on a massive shopping spree).

Then we headed to a Mexican themed bar to watch Uruguay v. Netherlands and Si was asked to be interviewed on TV about football (apparently they dont ask women to be interviewed but I was allowed to stand next to him!) Unfortunately he didn't get his 15 minutes of fame, he asked if he could do it after we'd eaten, they said that was fine but had disappeared when he went to look for them.

After the match we headed down to Santa Monica beach and did a spot of sunbathing for an hour or so but the wind began to pick up and we had goosebumps on our goosebumps so decided to call it a day!

For tea we went to Johnny Rockets which is like a 50's style diner with the little juke boxes on your table and everything it was brilliant! I stuck with the hot dog but Si went for the Chilli dog and made a right mess of it ... ended up having to eat it with a knife and fork!

After tea we went to the Ye Old Kings Head just at few doors down from the hostel very nice pub run by a women with several different accents depending on who she was serving and if you weren't drinking normal beer it cost a fortune! (although we have to give it to her that its holiday measures, if you order a vodka and coke 3/4 would be vodka). We then decided to call it a night and headed back to the hostel.

Day 7

Today we woke up early again (about 7am this time so we are getting better) and after breakfast headed back to the shops and I treated myself to a lovely dress from Abercrombie & Fitch. Si did find an aftershave he liked but decided not to get it ... but will get it if we find another Abercrombie on our travels or order it online when we get back (should have just bought it then if you ask me).

We walked around a few more shops and then headed to Yankee Doodle for the Germany v. Spain match. It was quite a good atmosphere in the bar with a mixture of Spanish and Germans but I think it was quite obvious that anyone else was rooting for Spain. There was a German guy sat behind me and at full time he honestly looked like he might cry. Si got a good picture of him (he was pretending to take a picture of me with a cocktail so it didnt look too obvious).

After beer, food and football we decided to take a walk down to Venice Beach as the map said it was only 0.5 miles away from where we were staying. After walking for a good hour we finally reached Venice Beach (clearly the map lied it was more like 3 miles) and we've never seen such a gathering of hippies before! Everywhere you looked hippies I loved it! We had a little sit down while I topped up on crisps and water and headed back to Santa Monica for a much deserved nana nap!

Went to Barney's Beanery for tea the food was gorgeous, Si had the biggest Calzone you've ever seen and spent the rest of the night complaining about how full he was (eyes bigger than his belly me thinks) he was even too full for beer so it must have been bad! We decided to head back to the hostel and prepare for our day of travel to hollywood in the morning .. so excited!